1. At Cairnlea from 15.10.2016 to 25.10.2016, did dump industrial waste at an unlicensed site, contrary to s.27A(2)(a).

2. At Cairnlea from 15.11.2016 to 03.01.2017, failed to comply with a Minor Works Pollution Abatement Notice, contrary to s.31B(6).

A company and its two directors who dumped asbestos-containing industrial waste at a site in Cairnlea bordering homes have been ordered to pay a total of $600,000.

The company, 160 Leicester Pty (Leicester), was fined $300,000 and ordered to pay $30,000 to a community environmental project, and $35,000 in costs.

Leicester’s directors Stefce Kutlesovski and Raman Shaqiri were fined $120,000 each, almost the maximum amount available in the Magistrates’ Court.

Leicester and the directors pleaded guilty in March this year to depositing industrial waste at an unlicensed site and failing to comply with a Minor Works Pollution Abatement Notice, following an investigation by Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA).

The EPA prosecutor told Sunshine Magistrates’ Court that Leicester owned the former Corkman Hotel site at 154-160 Leicester Street, Carlton, which was demolished in October 2016.

Following the demolition, EPA officers found the waste at the site of the former hotel contained asbestos. Seven days after the demolition, EPA received reports of industrial waste being dumped on a site in Furlong Rd, Cairnlea, which was bordered by residential properties on two sides, a shopping centre on another and was 350m from both a childcare and primary school.

Officers found the pile was 30m long, 8m wide and 1.5m high and contained wood, iron sheeting, bricks, carpet, rocks and piping.

The Cairnlea site was owned by another company of which Kutlesovski and Shaqiri are the sole directors.

Samples taken from the Cairnlea site also matched the same type of asbestos located at the Carlton site and officers recognised items from the Carlton site, including a framed sign detailing the former pub’s rules and conditions.

In November 2016, EPA issued the company a Minor Works Pollution Abatement Notice to cover the industrial waste at the Carlton site to ensure asbestos was not blown around in high winds. A condition of the notice was the site be checked daily to ensure the covering was adequate, but EPA inspections on November 15 and December 28, 2016 and January 3, 2017 found the tarpaulins were torn and inadequately covering the rubble.

Magistrate Richard Pithouse the directors and company’s actions showed “a complete disregard of the law”.

He described it as a significant breach.